Chapter 206 "Collecting Junk"
Constantine and Maximilian I talked for a long time. In a nutshell, there was no money, but everything else was negotiable.
Faced with the shameless Prince Constantine, the first naval commander of East Africa had to return empty-handed. Not only did he fail to get support, but he had to invest a lot of resources himself.
Ernst, who Constantine said was short of money recently, was inspecting the Ruhr area in Prussia.
…
Thick smoke and dark clouds covered the sky.
This is what Ernst saw in the cities of the Ruhr region, which was rich in coal but lacked iron ore.
Fortunately, the transportation here is extremely convenient. The Rhine River, Ruhr River, and Lippe River meet, the river network is dense, and river transportation is developed. At the same time, Prussia has built many railways, and with the help of the Customs Union, it can basically cover the entire German region.
"The environment is really great!" Ernst said sincerely.
"Your Highness, I think the environment here is much worse than that in Berlin. The air in Berlin is not so polluted." said the manager of the Hechingen Bank who was accompanying them.
"I'm talking about the industrial environment, not the natural environment. Remember, we are not here to travel, but to inspect the local industrial equipment and factories."
"By the way, how is your local research going?" Ernst asked.
“Your Highness, we have visited two-thirds of local enterprises and factories. Currently, many of them are expanding. The German market has been very prosperous in recent years, so they are also busy with production and expanding production capacity.
Many mechanical equipment are snapped up by related companies and factories as soon as they leave the factory, and the prices of the machinery are driven up very high.
But there are also benefits. Some large enterprises and small workshops are stepping up efforts to eliminate old machines and equipment in order to improve production efficiency. Although these equipment are a bit old, they are cheap and in large quantities. If your requirements for mechanical equipment are not high, our suggestion is to purchase these second-hand equipment. "
"My requirements are not too high, but you can't be careless. If you buy a bunch of scrap metal, I will be really angry!" said Ernst.
On this trip, Ernst nominally came to inspect, but in fact he came to collect junk, which is an old tradition of the Heixingen Group.
We originally purchased second-hand uniforms and weapons from the Prussian Army, and now we are purchasing second-hand industrial equipment from Prussia.
These obsolete industrial equipment have no good place in Prussia, but if they are placed in East Africa, they will definitely be a powerful tool to increase East Africa's production capacity.
The poor city of Mbeya is still using a large number of "laborers" who use simple tools such as hoes and shovels to produce coal for East Africa by carrying it on their shoulders.
"Laborers" are also resources. If some of them can be freed from the coal mines, East Africa will be able to invest more manpower in other projects.
“Your Highness, rest assured, we have hired a group of professionals this time to conduct a professional inspection of the equipment in advance to assess whether it is suitable for continued use.
At the same time, we will actively cooperate with large companies such as Krupp. The equipment they retire should be of more reliable quality.”
Picking up junk requires professionals, otherwise if Ernst really buys a pile of scrap metal, he will just cry.
Even if it was tattered, its value would not be low, because Ernst's purchase volume this time was very large, otherwise he would not have asked the manager of the Hechingen Bank to accompany him.
According to political and economic standards, East Africa is a feudal agricultural country, but feudalism and agriculture do not mean the absence of industry.
Now even the Qing government and Japan are engaged in industrial construction, and East Africa naturally cannot lag behind.
However, the two countries in the Far East have very strong foundations. Take Japan for example, it has a long history and a very dense population. It has everything it should have, but it is just lagging behind the times. East Africa is nothing more than a slightly larger territory than Japan, and it doesn't seem to have any other advantages. There are quite a few minerals, but they have to be developed first.
Moreover, it is not too difficult for Japan to reform at present. After all, the Japanese are good at enduring humiliation and bearing heavy burdens. As long as they are willing to give the green light to Britain and the United States, Britain and the United States are also willing to support Japan.
Japan did the same in history. Just to build the railway from Tokyo to Osaka, Yokohama and Hyogo, the Meiji government issued £1 million of bonds in the UK using all Japanese customs revenue as collateral.
Moreover, supporting Japan can control the Far East and Tsarist Russia. Strategically, Britain and the United States also need a stronger Japan.
East Africa does not have such conditions. East Africa has never introduced foreign investment and cannot do so. Not to mention Britain and the United States, even Prussia and Austria cannot do so.
That is not about introducing foreign investment, but about killing the Hexingen royal family. After all, East Africa has basically no value for cooperation and utilization for other countries.
On the contrary, it is a potential competitor. After all, there is no greedy Tsarist Russia next to East Africa. East Africa itself is the "African Tsarist Russia".
Therefore, all trade in East Africa is run only through the Heixingen Consortium. The data is kept in its own hands and will not be announced to avoid attracting the attention of other countries.
There are disadvantages as well, that is, there is a large funding gap and the construction of East Africa is completely dependent on the Hexingen Consortium. This is why Ernst chose agriculture as his foothold in East Africa.
The investment in agriculture is small and the speed of capital recovery is not slow. It is not very profitable, but people are retained.
"This time you should focus on mining and iron smelting equipment and strive to build a primary industrial city in East Africa," said Ernst.
Ernst was talking about the city of Mbeya, which is located deep in the heart of East Africa. It has good resource conditions, including coal and iron resources, and a climate suitable for industry. The only problem is that the transportation conditions are not very good. However, East Africa's industrial products are definitely for its own use and can be digested internally without being exported.
"Your Highness, it is not difficult to obtain the corresponding mechanical equipment, but it is not easy to solve the problem of having only mechanical equipment but no professional workers."
"Don't worry about that. I will find a way to solve it when the time comes. You don't have to worry about it."
The solution Ernst mentioned was "paid work". Ernst planned to select a group of immigrants from the Far East to the Ruhr area for "internship". He would pay their wages and let them work in factories in the Ruhr area to accumulate experience for a period of time before being sent directly to East Africa.
Ernst could still afford this amount. To be honest, how much salary do you plan to pay to the Far East immigrants? It's enough to maintain a basic standard of living. Ernst won't pay a penny more.
And the German factory owners had no reason to refuse. They would let you work for "free" for a period of time, so just decide whether you want to use it or not!
This solves the problem of the most basic industrial workers. The lowest-end ones are those who do heavy and tiring work that requires no technical skills, and they are hired as "laborers". The high-end ones are recruited from Europe with large sums of money, but they do not need to be too high-end, and technicians of average level will do. That is, they will be responsible for maintaining the second-hand machines at any time to ensure the normal operation of the equipment.
This scrap collection activity caused quite a sensation. The entire Ruhr area became the target of the Hechingen Consortium because the industrial equipment here was the most complete and the cities were densely populated, so there was no need for them to run around all over Germany.
Moreover, after the equipment is obtained, it can be disassembled into parts and shipped directly to the North German Federal Port by river and rail to East Africa, which is very convenient.
(End of this chapter)
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